OMG! That's so awesome!! She was so GOTH! I really liked Bestandigova/Bestandig actually; they were the definition of a voidy Euro pair! poths should be happy!

So not only is he not a skater or any kind (hockey or roller at least has SOME semblance to fs, lol), according to this profile she is 31 and her only competitions since 2002 were the 2005 Euros/Worlds (apparently a bid to qualify for Torino). This is more exciting than Kokhlova/Andreev!

OMG! That's so awesome!! She was so GOTH! I really liked Bestandigova/Bestandig actually; they were the definition of a voidy Euro pair! poths should be happy!

So not only is he not a skater or any kind (hockey or roller at least has SOME semblance to fs, lol), according to this profile she is 31 and her only competitions since 2002 were the 2005 Euros/Worlds (apparently a bid to qualify for Torino). This is more exciting than Kokhlova/Andreev!

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She definitely competed at Karl Schafer 2005 in a bid to qualify for Torino. SHe wore these parachutte pants and skated one of the voidiest No Teknik things I had ever seen. She skated with Futas at this point...and came last?/2nd last!

But they won on voids!

I remember she landed two throws (both double footed) at Euros one year (2000?) which was pretty for her....wore a leather skirt with violet hair, a nose ring and a choker whilst fondling her brother who always seemed aroused :invoid:

I remember she landed two throws (both double footed) at Euros one year (2000?) which was pretty for her....wore a leather skirt with violet hair, a nose ring and a choker whilst fondling her brother who always seemed aroused :invoid:

I've just seen this news. Obviously this partnership won't go anywhere skating-wise. However, Turkey is a football (soccer) -crazy country and this sport has a very macho culture. So hopefully the fact that a relatively high-profile football player finds figure skating cool will change the image of skating as a girls' sport and will bring more boys to the rinks.

Back during the Football World Championships in 2002, Ilhan Mansiz was still on of the stars in the Turkish National Football Team and he played for Besiktas Istanbul, amongst other football clubs.

But today the Bayern-born 35-year old has a new sport dream. Together with his significant other, Olga Bestandigova [she used to skate pairs for Slovakia with her brother Josef Bestandig], he wants to qualify for the Pairs event at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

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Ilhan met Olga whilst taking part in Stars/Dancing On Ice tv show. They are a couple now and decided to pursue the dream of qualifying for the 2014 Olympic Games.

Whilst the level of his skating, displayed in that video above is very low, Turkey does not have any Pairs teams so you can imagine them making the National Team by default.

Being a professional athlete, Ilhan must be in great shape and it's very possible he'll learn fast enough. We will see. Their coach Alexander Koenig was praising his work ethic and attitude.

It's a very long shot but respect for him, for giving it a go!

On another note, Olga used to be extremely wild. Both in her appearance (bright pink hair) and her wayward behaviour. She looks very demure, tame and sweet now.

I've just seen this news. Obviously this partnership won't go anywhere skating-wise. However, Turkey is a football (soccer) -crazy country and this sport has a very macho culture. So hopefully the fact that a relatively high-profile football player finds figure skating cool will change the image of skating as a girls' sport and will bring more boys to the rinks.

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Yes, let's hope that this is going to create a lot of publicity for figure skating. And the fact that such an alpha male is pursuing it will hopefully make it be seen as a bit less "gay."

I missed Bestandigova so much. In both her partnerships, she was totally no teknik but always brought tons of VOIDS.

Yes, let's hope that this is going to create a lot of publicity for figure skating. And the fact that such an alpha male is pursuing it will hopefully make it be seen as a bit less "gay."

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In Turkey, as in Russia, people do not link figure skating to being gay. Boys are just not interested in participating, it is not as cool for a boy as the team sports, that's all.

I will totally have to make it to the qualifying competition for the 2014 games just to see them compete!

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Oh, I'll be surprised if they are still skating at the end of this season, let alone in 2014. Ilhan is already 35 years old and he has had to quit football because of a knee injury. He'll soon realize it's not as easy as it looks. He can go back to appearing in TV series.

He's had quite a career though. Not a long one like some of the great football stars, but he has been a national hero during the 2002 World Cup where Turkey came 3rd. He scored the golden goal that took Turkey to the semi-finals and then he scored two goals in the match for 3rd place. Only FSUers from other football-crazy countries can imagine how big this was in Turkey. I won't even try to explain it to the others, because there is nothing else that remotely compares to football hysteria.

His forward xovers looked decent, but some of the other stuffs he was trying looked downright scray. No overhead lift please. This is a cute story but his partner shouldn't be wasting her skating career waiting for him to become a good skater.